In water dispensers, a replaceable bottle is mounted, with neck and spout downwardly extending into an opening in the ledge of a dispensing stand, where the bottle is free standing and held in place by gravity. The bottles are reused, and thus may become scratched and unsightly or dangerous. Consider the fact that a glass bottle with a scratch thereon, similar to that made by a glass cutter, could shatter and burst, with the internal force of the water tending to "explode" the glass fragments dangerously away from the dispenser.
Also, when in use, the bottles may be scratched, impacted or pierced by objects that contact the bottle surface. It is certainly desirable to protect bottles in use from damage, defacing or catastophic failure under use conditions.
Furthermore, when bottles are reused and become unsightly it is desirable to hide them within a decorative covering, as for example shown in U.S. Pat. No. Des. 126,192, Apr. 1, 1941, L. L. Stone, et al. Thus, an outer cabinet of a decorative nature is provided to surround a water bottle. Such cabinets, however, are very expensive, not conducive to variable decorative tastes, and are cumbersome to use.
Also it is known to provide insulating or cooling jackets for water or milk bottles or cans as may be seen from U.S. Pat. Nos. 1,869,756, Aug. 2, 1932 to A. A., Kinard and 3,906,129, Sept. 16, 1975 to P. Damois. Not only are these expensive and awkward to use, but they for the most part are not necessary and produce problems for water dispensing systems now generally in use. That is, the water generally is not cooled in the bottle, and thus insulation or temperature modification jackets are meaningless. Furthermore, if an insulating jacket were used, it would tend to accumulate moisture from sweating and encourage growth of fungus and bacteria, an undesirable result about potable drinking water.
Because of reuse of the bottles, it is probable that accumulation of dirt and bacteria may occur on the outside of the bottles. This is not only unsightly but it may lead to contamination of potable water. Thus, bacteria or undesirable chemical deposits on the outside of the bottle, because of the way it is oriented in a dispensing stand, are subject to entry into the dispensing area by being carried off the outer bottle surface in dripping sweat on the outside of the bottle.
Therefore it is a general objective of this invention to resolve these prior art problems, and a more specific objective is to improve the safety and appearance of a water bottle being used in a water dispensing system.
Other objects, features and advantages of the invention will be found throughout the following description, the appended drawings and the claims.